2. speakers
  3. 1270447920

I think I've made up my mind

After having auditioned the following :

1. Avantgarde Uno G2 + Audio Note SET amp/Pathos Twin Towers integrated amp
2. Magico V2 + Soulution 720 pre + 710 power amps
3. Sonus Faber Elipsa/Wilson Sasha + ARC Ref 3 + Ref 110
4. Thiel CS3.7 + Parasound JC1 pre + JC2 power amps

...and after weighing all factors like room interaction, degree of difficulty of setting-up, value for money, magazine reviews, and comments posted here and AVguide.com....

...the winner is: Thiel CS3.7 + Parasound JC1/JC2!

Now for the cables. MF and JA of Stereophile noted that the specs of Parasound show ultra-wide bandwidth and high-current capability which reminds me of Spectral amps. Therefore, would MIT Magnum MA speaker cables and interconnects be a good match? Anyone has any other suggestion? Thanks.
jtein
jtein OP
36 posts
 
Ritmo, you can find my reasons in my other threads: 1. Let down by Wilson Sasha/ARC Ref 3 combo 2. My findings on Magico....what now?

Rtn1, I have considered the Avalon Indra but have no chance of auditioning them as no dealer in my country carries them. I've inquired from a dealer in a neighboring country and the cost of getting the Indra's is prohibitive (about $25k which is $5k more than retail) because of the shipping charges due to the very heavy wooden crates they come in.

Blindjim and Tpreaves, they were set up for demo purposes although at different dealers over the past few months.

Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions on the cables.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,172 posts
 
All very good stuff. Looks like you considered a nice variety of system types before deciding, which is very smart.

Two things worth considering I might add:

1) A tube pre-amp might work very well with that amp!

2) Did you consider OHM Walsh speakers by chance? Might be worth taking advantage of OHMs extensive in-house trial period first if you might be interested in perhaps halving or better the cost for the speakers, depending on room size. Sound should compete well with the Thiels I would think however styling and appearance is way different.
rrog
1,958 posts
 

How many of you believed Spectral when they said their amps would go into oscillation if you didn't use MIT speaker cable?
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
They said that? Great marketing if your looking for an unstable amp.
madfloyd
411 posts
 
In my humble opinion, the Ref 3 is an extremely dull sounding preamp. I wouldn't trust any speaker evaluation with it.
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